Amnesia
by misstinarose
Summary: After a spell goes wrong and puts Ethan's memory on the line, Benny and Sarah will do anything to get him back.


No one ever trusted Benny with magic, especially not his best friend. Yet somehow Ethan didn't disagree when Benny, thinking a ghost was haunting Whitechapel High, shot a revealing spell that ended up being a spell to alert specters of a human wanting to make contact.

"You read it backwards. Again, didn't you?" Usually Ethan's voice had a small note of panic to it, but in this case he had to be at Jane's Mole Troop badge ceremony in the morning and was having none of Benny's shenanigans.

Benny tried to sputter out an explanation "Look, I must've had the wrong page marked. Everything's in Latin anyway, and if you mistranslate a few you get, well, this I guess"

The specter unexpectedly lashed out at Ethan, grabbing his shoulder and making unrelenting eye contact. Ethan's eyes flashed white, causing Benny to cringe, and for a millisecond it seemed like everything just stopped, how it always felt when Ethan made contact with a supernatural being.

This time was different. Before Ethan had a chance to jerk out of his vision, something flashed. Benny was too disoriented to notice Ethan had fallen in a heap on the cold tile. He tried to shake his best friend to wake him up, but it seemed like nothing was working. He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Sarah.

Jane had a sleepover at a friend's house, so the Morgans didn't need her to babysit, but despite her night off she didn't have plans.

"Hello? Benny, why are you calling me?" She was mildly annoyed, knowing the only time the two boys called her it was because they needed her to kick some supernatural whatever's behind.

"Yeah, Sarah, so I accidentally lured a specter into Whitechapel high and somehow it knocked Ethan out. I'm not sure why or how but I do know that if he's home by the time his parents get him he and I will both be grounded" He stopped to breathe.

"Look, I'm fine with taking Ethan home, but you need to clean up your own messes sometime too. "

Benny chewed on his lip while he took in everything she said. It was all true, and he hated thinking that he had somehow hurt his own best friend, practically his only friend in the whole world. If Ethan wasn't okay by tomorrow, it was all Benny's fault.

It took Sarah about a second to get over to the school. She barely even glanced at Benny as she picked Ethan up and sped over to his house. There was one glitch however, vampires had to be allowed into a home before they stepped foot inside. Benny was running as fast as he could and let her in. Sarah put Ethan gently on his bed.

"I can stay the night; his parents are pretty much always okay with it. I just have to call Grandma and let her know" He avoided her eyes as he said it, voice dripping with guilt.

"I'm not that mad at you, you know."

"Sarah, look, even _I _can tell when I've screwed up. You don't need to play the guilt trip card. Besides, I know you're not in the helping mood but I need to convince Ethan's mom to let him stay home from Jane's badge ceremony."

"Why is it such a big deal to her anyway?"

"His mom's been on this huge 'family togetherness' kick lately. She even lets me join in sometimes"

Sarah's eyes turned gentle for a moment. "That must be nice. My dad goes on a lot of business trips, so usually it's just me and my mom. She's usually working, and I have to babysit, obviously, so I don't get to be around her as much as I want"

"Yeah, I mean it's not exactly a secret my dad's gone all the time. And since my mom died when I was little it always felt like he got sad whenever he talked to me."

She nodded, solemnly. She felt sorry for the goofy kid for a second, but they had a bigger task to tackle.

"Usually when it's just us his mom doesn't call more than once or twice to check in."

"And they're usually home by eleven" Sarah added.

"So we have an hour to come up with an explanation" Benny groaned. "Ugh I suck at this! E always figures out what to say."

"Just tell them you ordered a bad pizza and it gave him food poisoning!"

"But then she'll get protective and make sure he only eats crackers and drinks ginger ale."

"Fine, does he have anything else that wouldn't put her in mom mode?"

"Well, since we were little sometimes he would get these really bad migraines? You know the kind that are super throbbing and make you see spots and junk? Yeah, well, in middle school sometimes he would get those and the only thing that made them better was just sleeping it off."

"So just tell her he got one of those"

As it turned out, the badge ceremony was rained out the next morning anyway. Jane was devastated, but the troop hadn't planned a back-up plan, so Benny was in the clear.

Ethan woke up, later than usual but otherwise seemed fine.

He groaned, holding his forehead in his palm "Gah, what even…?" He stared at Benny. "Dude, who are you and what are you doing in my room?"

Benny couldn't cover up the fact that he was slightly insulted. "Uh, I've only been your best friend for like, ever?" He quickly realized what had happened. "Look, I know this is going to sound weird, but, I'm a wizard—"

Ethan quickly burst out laughing. "Yeah, dude, nice try. Wizards, vampires, all of that fantasy crap isn't real" He gave Benny a sideways glance. "Wait. You're not kidding. So if you're a wizard, what am I?"

"You're a seer, kind of like a psychic, but you have to touch things to get a vision." Benny could tell Ethan was trying to pretend he didn't buy it, but he couldn't help notice the look of wonderment on his best friends face.

Downstairs, Sarah knocked on the Morgan's door.

"Hey Sarah, what's up?" Mrs. Morgan answered.

"Oh, nothing, I just have to help Ethan and Benny finish up a project. They just wanted me to pick up a few books from the library on my way over"

"Both of them should be up in Ethan's room, but you're always welcome if you want to chat"

Sarah chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind, thanks Mrs. Morgan"

"No problem sweetheart" She closed the door as Sarah went upstairs.

Sarah knocked on the frame of his door.

"Uh, hi?" He whispered to Benny "So if you're a wizard, and I'm psychic, what is she?"

"She's a vampire. And she babysits your little sister.

Ethan scoffed and shook his head.

"Okay, so, I looked around a little like you asked and turns out the only way to release a victim's memory" She gestured to Ethan "Is to defeat the specter. But, the catch is you have to be sure it's the same one."

"Okay, sounds easy enough."

"Not so fast. You can't defeat them in the normal combat way" She looked at the book. "You have to outwit them"

"What like a riddle or something?"

"Because they prey on memories, they're going to try to convince you of something from their victim's mind."

"So we just have to find where they trip up, and call them on it? Sounds easy enough"

"But you need to go the exact same place you were when you summoned it. Ethan too."

"It might be a little much to zoom him somewhere like a minute after he found out vampires are real. It's still the same Ethan. He's always been a skeptic."

"Fine, I'll race over there, and you can meet me"

It still only took the two boys ten minutes to get over to the high school, but Ethan was oddly quiet.

"You're expecting me to believe you are magic, and I can see the future by touching stuff?" He looked more worried than critical. "You guys are nuts."

"That's the tip of the iceberg, man. You were almost turned into a vampire by her jealous ex-boyfriend."

Ethan's eyes widened and he bit down on his lip.

Sarah walked over and noticed Ethan, paler than usual. "I get it's all a shock, but trust me, you'll be back to normal."

Benny repeated the spell that brought the specter, this time looking like a carbon copy of Ethan. The real Ethan stumbled forward, and then fell back, out cold.

"That should make this easier, right?"

Sarah just shrugged.

"Hello, spell master" The specter's voice was deeper than Ethan's normal voice. "And you brought the little vampire girl too" Sarah flashed her fangs. "Trust me; even if those did work on me, it wouldn't be necessary." His voice changed to match Ethan's "Besides, Benny, we've known each other forever. You know everything about me, right?"

"Try me, ghost face"

"If something did happen, my mom would kill you. And your grandmother, what would she think? It's not like your dad would care anyway, he can't even look at you. I'm surprised my dad can even stand you sometimes. The only person more obnoxious than you is Rory. And Delia wouldn't even date you"

Benny grinned "Wow, seriously? I thought you were supposed to be witty. It's Della, you faker!"

The specter grinned like a Cheshire cat. "I tried to go easy on you, young one. This isn't even close to the last time you'll see me. And I rather admire your little friend. For one with so much to learn his powers are greater than some with twice his age."

Ethan tried to sit up, still reeling. After he looked around, he stared Benny square in the eyes.

"Dude, look, I'm sorry. I can't even stand the thought of you not knowing me, much less if something bad did happen to you"

"Benny, I know you, okay. I know you wouldn't." He looked at Sarah. "I'd do anything for either of you, and I don't need the sob fest."

"But seriously if anything does happen to my head I'm coming after you. Even if it's from the afterlife"


End file.
